A Reason to Call for Those Pain Meds During Childbirth

Pregnant women get a lot of opinions—a lot—from pretty much everyone, about everything having to do with pregnancy, delivery, and parenting. And many ladies who plan to manage birth pain with an epidural get grief from those who say natural childbirth is so much better. We’re basically in awe of any woman who has a kid in any way—you’re all superheroes!—but new evidence suggests that an epidural could have benefits beyond just pain management.

A new study in Anesthesia & Analgesia by a team of Chinese researchers finds that rates of postpartum depression were significantly lower in women who received epidural labor analgesia than women who didn’t. Out of 107 women who got an epidural, only 15 experienced postpartum depression; among the 107 women who didn’t get an epidural, 37 women had postpartum depression.

In an editorial on the same issue, Northwestern Medicine perinatal psychiatrist Katherine Wisner, M.D., says that while confounding factors could be at play here, “[e]vidence is accumulating that optimal acute pain control reduces the risk for postpartum depression.” Dr. Wisner also notes that making delivery easier isn’t just good for new moms—it’s good for their children, too: "Improving pain control and reducing the short-term and long-term sequelae [effects] of pain are crucial to support the developmental tasks of motherhood.”

Just one more reason to educate yourself about all your delivery options, if and when the time comes!